Copyright, DataWave(copyright) Systems Inc., 2002 all rights reserved. A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection by the laws of the United States and of other countries. As of the first effective filing date of the present application, this material is protected as unpublished material. However, permission to copy this material is hereby granted to the extent that the copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentation or patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
This invention generally relates to the field of prepaid wireless communication services.
Prepaid wireless services such as prepaid cellular telephone service provide cellular telephone customers with a convenient method of budgeting their use of a cellular telephone. Instead of signing a long-term contract with a cellular service provider, after acquiring a cellular telephone the customer simply purchases a prepaid card at a retail point of sale for a desired amount of cellular telephone time or service. Upon purchasing, the cellular service provider enables the additional time or service associated with the customer""s cellular telephone.
With the prepaid service, the customer need not provide personal information or be subject to a credit check in order to realize the advantage of cellular service. Furthermore, the customer will not be surprised by monthly bills because the service is prepaid. The cellular service provider automatically terminates the cellular service at the expiration of the customer""s prepaid time.
A retail point of sale facilitates the purchase of cellular prepaid service with the sale of a prepaid card. A prepaid card identifies the service provider distributing the card, the amount of service associated with the prepaid card and the price of the prepaid card. The prepaid card further has an account number imprinted on the card uniquely identifying the prepaid card and may be read by the customer. The prepaid card may also have a personal identification number (PIN) viewable only after purchase of the card. Viewing the PIN may also require the purchaser opening a special compartment concealing the PIN or scratching off a secure coating over the PIN. The PIN may be included in the packaging as an item separate from the prepaid card.
The account number and amount of service associated with the card is also encoded in a machine readable format, such as a barcode or a magnetic strip on the card or its packaging. The amount of service may be encoded in the machine readable account number. This machine readable information facilitates easy activation of the card at the point of sale by a machine adapted to facilitate card activation.
The prepaid card provides information to facilitate the registration of the purchase by the customer. A customer dials the telephone of the service provider listed on the prepaid card, enters the account number, PIN and telephone number associated with the customer""s wireless device. This information is typically entered by the customer through an interactive voice prompt (IVP) system provided by the wireless service provider. In response, the amount of prepaid service purchased is added to the customer""s account.
Cellular service providers providing service in any given customer area are proliferating. Where an area was once covered by one or two service cellular providers in earlier days of cellular telephone service, the area may now be covered by six or more wireless service provider. Furthermore, as wireless services evolve the number of service providers may continue to increase. A problem arises when each wireless service provider markets its own prepaid card for the distribution of its prepaid wireless services. A point of sale becomes cluttered with a myriad of prepaid cards for multiple wireless service providers. The cluttered appearance of the retail space not only detracts from a desirable orderly appearance of merchant""s facilities, but becomes a source of confusion for the customer attempting to purchase prepaid wireless service while visiting the merchant""s point of sale.
Thus, what is needed is a prepaid wireless service distribution system that does not require a unique prepaid card for each wireless service provider. Furthermore, it is desirable to provide for this need without introducing additional complication to the customer registration process.